Grand Marnier Cranberry Sauce
Grand Marnier Cranberry Sauce with Black Cherries and Pineapple
Creating a great cranberry sauce is key for the holidays. Try out this version of Grand Marnier Cranberry Sauce with Black Cherries and Pineapple. The black sweet cherries are the hit and will be picked out first. Although, this sweet tart combo with orange Grand Marnier will keep them coming back for more.
How to make Grand Marnier Cranberry Sauce
With the Holidays quickly upon us it is good to start hunting down your dinner menus. Who said men were the hunters? Women do serious work to get ready for any Holiday feast. Making most of our meals from scratch is very time consuming. It is best to get the whole family involved. There is nothing like knowing the tricks of secret family recipes like making the Holiday meals. Something to grow on and build nostalgia for the future. Put away the cell phones and dive into the work and soon everyone will be laughing.
Finding fresh cranberries can be hard to find because they only come out in the fall. Look for the cranberries that are hard and firm. They will be the freshest. Making this Grand Marnier Cranberry Sauce is rather easy. First check all the cranberries for bad, soft ones and discard them. Cranberries should be hard to a soft squeeze. If they are slightly soft that is fine. Wash the cranberries in cold water. Add to the water, boil and watch them pop. After about 12 to 15 minutes add all the rest of the ingredients and finish cooking while stirring often. Be careful it likes to bubble and spit out of the pot when cooking so put a lid on the last 15 minutes of cooking.
Where this Cranberry Sauce came from
Years ago I worked as a hairstylist in Sarasota, Florida. I had a wonderful young ex-military soldier that was my client. He came to me for about eight months or so. He suffered from PTSD from the Afghanistan war and found great stress relief when cooking. So he started going to chief school. He was so excited to share recipes with me. He would glow up every time he shared. I could tell how much he loved cooking and how healing it was for him. He explained everything in detail about this recipe and all the quality ingredients to use.
His main ingredient that he insisted on using was Vietnamese Cinnamon. It is the lighter colored cinnamon and not as strong as Ceylon cinnamon. It really is good quality cinnamon. Until this day I use it in all of my cooking. His second thing was using everything fresh and especially using organic oranges for the zest. This really enhances the orange flavor of the Grand Marnier.
I am sorry to say I do not remember this young military mans name. I thank him for his service to our country and this beautiful recipe. Every Holiday I make this dish and when I do I think of him and hope he is as happy as the days when he would share his new found joy of cooking with me. Where ever you are dear friend I wish you well. I hope you enjoy this Grand Marnier Cranberry Sauce with Dark Cherries and Pineapple as much as we do.
Grand Marnier Cranberry Sauce
Equipment
- Medium sauce pan with lid
- Stirring spoon
- Serving dish
- Measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
Ingredients
Grand Marnier Cranberry Sauce
- 1 cup Water
- 3 cups Fresh Cranberries
- 1 cup Dark Cherries
- 1 cup Fresh Pineapple chopped into tidbits
- ¼ cup Brown Sugar packed
- Vietnamese Cinnamon to taste
- 8 Whole cloves
- 3 Tbsp Grand Marnier
- 1 to 1½ tsp Organic Orange Zest
- Agave to taste
Instructions
- Wash your cranberries in cold water and sort out bad soft ones.
- In a medium sauce pan add the water and fresh cleaned cranberries. Turn the heat to medium. Boil the cranberries and water for 12 to 15 minutes.
- After the cranberries have popped and begun to cook (about 12 minutes) add the dark cherries, pineapple, brown sugar, cinnamon whole cloves, orange zest and Grand Marnier. Cook down on medium to medium low for 15 minutes.
- Add agave (or your favorite sweetener) to desired sweetness. Let cool and put in refrigerator until ready to serve.